Sun and Stars Valentine's Day Feast

You are the moon of my life.

Game of Thrones

Card from my cat, Pangur.
She also apparently got Stoney to
buy me a bottle of wine from her.

So, a few days late, but it took me all of yesterday to recover from our feast.  I love excuses to eat fancy food, and since I was unwilling to let a restaurant rob Stoney and me for the privilege of eating at their establishment on Valentine's Day, I decided to take matters into my own hands, and make us a fancy dinner for the occasion.  I will admit, I was planning the menu back in January.  

It all started while watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations.  The episode took place in Croatia, and Tony spent most of his time there raving about the exceptional quality of Croatian wines.  He was particularly taken with wines he was served at BibicH winery.  So naturally, I started hunting for places to buy a bottle of this allegedly fantastic wine.  This led me to Blue Danube Wine, an online seller of wines from Austria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, Georgia, and Montenegro.  I purchased a bottle of the G6 Grenache, and after a little research, decided on a lamb pairing.  Of course, any fancy dinner should have multiple courses, so I settled on a Lobster Bisque and White Burgundy (Louis Jadot pouilly-fuissé) for our first course, with Lamb and Maple Glazed Brussels Sprouts for the second.  For dessert, it was a simple plate of chocolate covered strawberries and a Nectarine wine from Mountain Valley Winery in Pigeon Forge, TN.

Course 1: Lobster Bisque

What you need:

• 4 lobster tails
• 1/3 cup Sherry
• A little over 1/3 cup White Burgundy (or chardonnay of your choice, I suggest using whatever you plan to drink with it)
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 large celery stalk, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon Emeril Essence (this is an approximation, I just shook a little into the pot)
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 3 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 5 oz. evaporated milk
• 1 1/3 cup half & half
• 1 cup chicken stock (I actually wanted seafood stock, but I didn't see any at the store, so I settled for chicken)

I ended up getting frozen lobster tails because they were on sale at Earth Fare, so if you do the same, make sure to put them in the fridge the night before to let them thaw.  When you finally have non-frozen lobster tails, grab your kitchen scissors and cut through the shell on the belly.  This makes it incredibly easy to peel the shell off.  Once you've gotten the meat out of the shell, cut it into chunks.  Next, place the meat in a bowl or shallot dish and cover with wine and sherry.  Cover the dish and set in the refrigerator to let it marinate for about an hour.  Once you've opened the wine, I'd recommend putting it in the refrigerator or a wine chiller to keep it cool and make sure it's ready to serve later.

Chop up all your veggies, and then melt the butter in a soup pot over medium heat.

Once the butter has melted, toss in the veggies, the Emeril Essence, and salt and pepper to taste, and sauté until the veggies start getting soft.  Make sure to keep stirring as you go.  

When your veggies have softened, add in the tomato paste.  Let it cook for about 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, and then add in the flour, cooking for an additional 1-2 minutes and continuing to stir constantly.

Stir in your broth and lobster/wine mixture, and then stir in the evaporated milk and half & half.  Once you have the combined mixture bubbling, lower the heat and let it simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  

Remove a small amount of the cooked lobster meat and set it aside for use as garnish later.  

Spoon your soup into a vitamin or blendtec blender and puree.  If you don't have a high-powered blender, an immersion blender would work just as well.  After pureeing the mixture, pour into a bowl, add in the lobster meat that you set aside, and serve immediately.

Course 2: Sautéed Lamb and Maple-Glazed Brussels Sprouts 

Course #2 was surprisingly easy to make, although I will admit that while I was searing the lamb, I generated enough smoke to make it look like the whole house was on fire.  I'm still not quite sure what went wrong there, because I seared the remaining lamb the following day without incident.  Just be prepared for the possibility.  If you have a fan or vent above the stove, this would probably be a non-issue.

What you need for the lamb:

• 4 lamb rib chops (I bought a rack of lamb and just cut four of the ribs off, reserving the remaining four chops for a lamb stew)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp Herbes de Provence
• Salt & pepper to taste

Mix together 1 tbsp olive oil, garlic, Herbes de Provence, salt, and pepper to make a paste.  Rub the paste into both sides of each rib chop, cover ribs, and let sit for 20-30 minutes.

Heat remaining oil per medium-high heat in a sauté pan.  Sear rib chops about 3 minutes on each side (really anywhere from 2-4 minutes, depending on how thick your chops are).  Let chops rest for 5 minutes before serving.

The lamb really did pair well with the G6, so I would highly recommend a Grenache with it.

What you need for the Brussels Sprouts:

• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (you can probably add up to 3 tbsp without making them too sweet)
• Salt, to taste
• 1 lb Brussels Sprouts

Preheat oven to 350.  Cut the Brussels Sprouts in half.  Heat the coconut oil and mix with maple syrup and salt in a bowl large enough to hold your brussels sprouts.  Mix in the brussels bprouts.  My the time you are done mixing, the coconut oil will likely have become solid again, leaving you with brussels sprouts that look like this:

Spread out your sprouts on a baking sheet, cook for 30 minutes, and then serve.  I didn't bother to flip mine and they came out great, but if you feel so inclined, you could flip them halfway through to get a more even cook.